The Hebrew Christian Witness
And Prophetic Investigator
An Anglo-Judeo-Christian Magazine

Under the entire management of Editor and Contributors from Patriotic Jewish Believers.

 

אתם עדי
"Ye are My Witnesses."
Isaiah 43:10

 

  לתורה ולתעודה
"For instruction and testimony."
Isaiah 8:20

 

1872 — 1873 — 1874 — 1877

 

[In January, February, March, 1872 "The Hebrew Christian Witness" was published in conjunction with "The Prophetic News and Herald of the Second Advent of the Son of God." The rest of that year and the whole of the year 1873, there was just one publication under the title "The Hebrew Christian Witness." Starting in 1874, a portion of the monthly was dedicated to unfulfilled prophecy and the magazine was renamed "The Hebrew Christian Witness and Prophetic Investigator." - JCR]

 

January, 1872 (pdf file)

 

January, 1872 — The Prophetic News (pdf file)

 

February, 1872 (pdf file)

 

February, 1872 — The Prophetic News (pdf file)

 

March, 1872 (pdf file)

 

March, 1872 — The Prophetic News (pdf file)

 

April, 1872 (pdf file)

 

May, 1872 (pdf file)

 

June, 1872 (pdf file)

 

July, 1872 (pdf file)

 

August, 1872 (pdf file)

 

September, 1872 (pdf file) Only the first page of this issue is available.

 

The remainder of this year is unavailable at this time.

 

 

Our Statement in Chief

A WELL-KNOWN Hebrew Christian clergyman of the Church of England thus closes one of his comprehensive essays:—"Has not the time arrived for Anglo-Hebrew Christians to be the most outspoken of all Her Majesty's subjects in this land? There is no department in the realm,—whether it be political, ecclesiastical, civil, literary, or commercial—which some Hebrew Christians do not adorn. The 'Israelites indeed' have their representatives in the senate, at the bar, in the church, on the exchange, and in the mart. The arts and the sciences count the children of 'the remnant' amongst their most genuine supporters. Thank God, the Anglo-Hebrew Christians are ornaments to every profession, quality, or trade with which their names happen to be associated. These are statements of unvarnished veracity, and, mutatis mutandi, the same might be affirmed of the Hebrew Christians in Germany, France, and other countries. The critical examiner of the "Clergy List," "The Men of the Time," or its kindred Dictionary "Contemporary Biography," Publishers' Circulars, and that the names of Hebrew Christians constitute a respectable percentage of those noticed in the works just mentioned. There are, however, a great many distinguished Christian Israelites whose names may have been beyond the reach of the compilers of the above-named hand books. Their numbers are constantly increasing. Within the last few months two of that body were added to the ministry of the Church of England—one was ordained by the Archbishop of York, and another by the Bishop of Ripon—and one was raised to the colonial episcopate of that church. Yet that large and well-educated portion of the Anglo-Christian community has hitherto remained without a bona fide organ of its own!

Several attempts have indeed been made to rear a Hebrew Christian Magazine; but the management had been assumed either by Gentilized Jewish believers, or by Gentile Christians. In either case the Gentile-Christian element sooner or later predominated, and the magazine dwindled away from a bona fide Hebrew Christian publication to a common-place, ordinary Gentile-Christian print. The promises made at starting, on the part of its managers, were never performed in the course of its career; and the readers—whether from amongst Hebrew or Gentile Christians—diminished month by month, till the Monthly ceased to exist, for the want of common necessaries of life and support, which a large circle of readers alone can render.

We are bound to admit that, with a couple of exceptions, on the plan and principles those magazines were conducted, they did not call for an especial place in the Christian household. The principal articles and reviews, which frequently made up the Monthly, were more suitable for a common-place Christian publication, than for an extraordinary publication; whilst it bore on its very front intimations and promises which raised strong expectations that the information to be afforded in its pages might be looked for in vain in any other Monthly. Hebrew Christians and genuine disinterested friends of Israel felt that faith had been broken with them. One half, and even more, of the print was devoted to ordinary articles which had very little, if anything at all, to do with things belonging exclusively to the house of Israel; especially to the "remnant according to the election of grace, who "strive to make their calling and election sure."

The decease of the last quasi, Christian Israelite magazine was announced at the beginning of last month, after a precarious struggle, with heterogeneous infirmities, of six years. The same day that the demise was announced, a proposal was published to produce "THE HEBREW CHRISTIAN WITNESS." The proposition was penned ere we knew that the Scattered Nation was so soon to be gathered to the family vault of dead prints. THE HEBREW CHRISTIAN WITNESS is not an embryo production which is likely to prove abortive. It has been conceived in our minds upwards of a quarter of century ago; we have tended it in our mental nursery, ever since it was shapen to our view, with every thoughtful care and attention. We held many a consultation, for years past, about its law and testimony. We have prayed, and do pray earnestly, that it may become "a living epistle."

THE HEBREW CHRISTIAN WITNESS will be exclusively supported—as regards its literary requirements-—by an editor and staff of members of the "House of Jacob," who endeavour to "walk in the light of the Lord." Men who have acquired, in this and other lands, reputations for learning and ability; men who have sacrificed much to conviction and conscience; men who proclaim that which they hold to be truth without fear or favour. There is, however, another sort of support of which THE HEBREW CHRISTIAN WITNESS will stand in need; and that is one arising from an extensive circulation amongst the Christian public at large. Our endeavour will be not to disappoint Christian readers; we venture to trust that they will not disappoint us.

The leading feature of THE HEBREW CHRISTIAN WITNESS will be the diffusion of correct information respecting the Jewish people throughout their dispersion. This will embrace disquisitions on Israel's past history, their present condition, and their future prospects. The genius of Jewish literature, ancient and modern, whether on exegesis, history, or poetry, will be given from time to time. The Jewish press, in this and other countries, will be conscientiously scanned; and just measures, according to the respective deserts of the different journals, dealt out to those publications. Our reviews of Hebrew works and on Hebrew literature will be written by able Hebrew scholars and conscientious critics. We do not hold that because an individual can write or enunciate the names of "Rashi," "Aben Ezra," "Onkelos," &c., such a person is, therefore, a Hebrew scholar, and a fit and proper person to give an opinion on Hebrew criticism. We maintain that a corresponding amount of ability and learning is required from a critic of the things which belong to the sacred tongue and sacred literature, to that required from a critic of works on the arts and sciences. Independently of those Jewish authorities, and sui generi alluded to, we shall often give hints to modern Biblical revisionists.

There is one portion of THE HEBREW CHRISTIAN WITNESS to which we invite contributions from our Gentile Christian brethren; and that is to the page apportioned to Notes and Queries. Both, however,—i.e., Notes and Queries—must be concise and to the point. Space, at starting, is a great consideration.

Though circumstances render it expedient for the present to produce THE HEBREW CHRISTIAN WITNESS in company with its natural ally THE PROPHETIC NEWS, the different parts are wholly and entirely under different management and responsibility. Communications intended for THE HEBREW CHRISTIAN WITNESS should be addressed to the editor of the same: Pelham Library, 151 Fulham Road, Brompton, S.W.